Getting the most out of a recording performance

Pre-production

Practice

It may seem odd to have to say this, but unless you have a lot of money to burn make sure that you can play your songs with your eyes closed. When you are paying by the hour you don’t want to bring in something new.

Practice Techniques to prepare for recording

Here are some ideas to help you get ready:

·         Play the song without anyone singing.
Do you know your parts well enough to get them right without following the vocalist?

·         Play to a metronome or click track
This can be tricky if you have a drummer – but find a way to get a steady click to him through headphones. Unless your drummer already has perfect timing this type of practice will help make the group “tight”!

·         Record your group
Just setup a portable cassette recorder, or whatever you have available.  It doesn’t have to sound pretty, as long as you can hear all the instruments reasonably well.  Listening to your home recording will make you aware of issues that you did not even know were there. Far better in your home than in the studio!

In the Studio

The first thing to do is to tune all your instruments (including drums). Put new strings on your guitars, oil squeaky drums pedals, and tighten anything that rattles. While you may be able to get away with these noises playing live, you cannot when recording. 

The usual procedure in a recording session (depending on the studio) is to record the rhythm section of your group – this would include drums, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and possibly piano or keyboards, depending on the song. Usually the vocalist will sing a “scratch” vocal which is later erased and redone. Scratch vocals are there to help others know exactly where they are in the song. Other than the “scratch”, these are often called the "bed" tracks. You can think of them as the foundation for of your song, as they dictate the timing. 

Speaking of timing, unless you have a world class drummer whose timing never slips you will want to play to a “click track”.  This is a sound played through headphones that everyone follows to keep their timing together. Typically the click is later removed and is never heard in the final product, but the tight timing is!

 Keep checking your tuning often!  Retune as often as needed.

 Once your bed tracks are laid you build on your song using overdubs with multi-track recording. Vocals, solos, extra parts – these are all done while listening to the bed tracks on headphones.  If you make a mistake, you just re-do it without everyone having to play over again.

Follow these guidelines and you will either make a better recording, save money, or both!